Tell it like it was

The week surely belonged to The Washington Post8217;s stunning foray into its own newsroom to ask: In the run-up to the Iraq war, did the n...

The week surely belonged to The Washington Post8217;s stunning foray into its own newsroom to ask: In the run-up to the Iraq war, did the newspaper push the doubts and the scepticism off the front page, did it leave that space wide open to be filled by the Bush-Cheney drumbeat?

This is not a new question, of course. Charges of media bias in the march to war have been levelled at the American media, mostly by those outside the American media. It has even led to a few halting admissions by American news organisations. But now, a mainstream and influential American paper has turned the searchlight full-face on itself. Its discovery that its pre-war reports could look 8216;8216;strikingly one-sided8217;8217; comes in the middle of yet another crucial run-up8212;to the Bush-Kerry face-off in November.

But some may already be wondering whether the post-war coverage of Iraq will occasion another media mea culpa. In Britain8217;s Guardian, columnist Eric Boehlert was among those to have noticed the 8216;8216;odd media disconnect8217;8217;: While most pundits agree Iraq will be a key issue in November, Americans are being exposed to less and less reporting about the war.

The key story that many American news outlets have missed since reportage slumped after the June 28 handover, he wrote, is this: things have got worse in Iraq and the Iraqis are not blaming the guerrillas, they8217;re blaming America.

The trouble in Najaf has begun to bring Iraq back into the headlines. But a lot happened while Iraq was off the front pages in the US and elsewhere: among other things, the Iyad Allawi government closed down the offices of Al Jazeera in Baghdad and restored the death penalty, not merely for convicted murderers but also for anyone found guilty of distributing drugs or 8216;8216;endangering national security8217;8217;. Strongman rule is back in Baghdad.

But back to The Washington Post, it will be interesting to see if the confessional itself is put under the scanner. Why now, why not earlier, could be a first question.

Mushy about Mush

Another strongman is back in the news. Pervez Musharraf won another round of appreciation in America and the West as arrests of Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan delivered crucial intelligence to the US.

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As always, the light shone on Musharraf lights up some messy corners in Pakistan. Both The Economist and Newsweek recounted their scepticism this week. For The Economist, the discrepancy was crucial: while Musharraf has nabbed several Al Qaeda suspects since September 11, his record against domestic extremist groups is less honourable.

Newsweek lamented, again, the lack of democracy in Pakistan. It did so not merely for democracy8217;s sake. It echoed fears that 8216;8216;8230;Musharraf8217;s and the army8217;s unwillingness to cede power to civilians and their failure to allow an open, democratic process to evolve are key reasons why even more headway has not been made against extremism8230;8217;8217;

On Kashmir, Newsweek was certain that Musharraf8217;s about-face holds and also that he keeps a finger poised on the jehadi tap8212;in case India does not negotiate a settlement soon.

An Arab silence

Darfur is a crisis at least a year old. Last year the Sudanese government armed a mounted Arab militia, the janjaweed, which set about terrorising black Africans in the western region of Darfur. Today, the region hosts the world8217;s worst humanitarian crisis, with at least 30,000 dead and over a million forced to flee their homes. Only recently, the UN served a deadline to the Sudanese government to disarm the janjaweed.

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The UN8217;s belated intervention drew sarcastic comment. The Economist accused it of 8216;8216;shuffling paper while Africans die8217;8217;.

But in Lebanon8217;s The Daily Star, columnist Rami G Khourie was not looking at the UN or the West. He wrote on the silence of the Arab world on the ethnic cleansing by Arab militias in Sudan.

Khourie said the passivity on Darfur speaks of a wider malaise: 8216;8216;Arab governments tend to stay out of each other8217;s way when any one of them is accused of wrongdoing, and most Arab citizens have been numbed into helplessness in the face of public atrocities or criminal activity in their societies8217;8217;.

He described a strange governing contract in which the citizenry expects basic services and leaves the government unchecked in its conduct of other policies, including violence against its own citizens. And a strange 8216;8216;professional courtesy8217;8217; among fellow autocrats and security state managers who rationalise it by saying that Arab states do not interfere in the domestic affairs of others.

Love in Athens

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Greece8217;s 8216;8216;preparations8217;8217; came in for much ribbing in the western media. The unfinished roof on the Olympic swimming pool. The stadium that has a roof but not all the seats. Venues that don8217;t have pavements or signage.

But despite the occasional patronising tone, a love affair has begun. Everyone waits to glimpse the world as it would like to be. In a city that has so entrancing a past, the present is easily overlooked.